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Bhutan's Daily NewspaperTue, 03 Mar 2015 09:53:29 +0000en-UShourly1A Malady Called Rural-Urban Migration: Part IXhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-ix/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-ix/#commentsThu, 19 Feb 2015 12:02:20 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=118498[... Read More]]]>If we are serious about reversing rural-urban migration, the priority should be working towards creating a conducive atmosphere for income generation.
We take pride in declaring ourselves as an agrarian society yet, we have allowed our farmers to be totally disenchanted with farming turning them into consumers, from their traditional role of producers.
Food self-sufficiency is said to be at the core of our development planning for the past four decades. Allowing our farmers to abandon their farms and villages isn’t the best strategy to achieving our goals. Small wonder than that instead of being self-sufficient in food, our food import bill for the year 2013 stood at Nu.6.3B. Rice alone accounted for Nu.1.57B.
Resettlement & Consolidation of Villages:
One of the biggest problems to effective service delivery in the rural areas is that our villages are too fragmented and isolated. One of the reasons why the villages still remain poorly developed is because it is not cost-effective to deliver essential services because of low population density in the villages.
It is time to consider resettlement and consolidation of villages to form larger human settlements to effectively counter wildlife predation. We did try this sometime in the late 70s and early 80s. We need to look at this very seriously once again – because one way to counter wildlife predation is by out-numbering them.
In addition, larger areas under cultivation will mean that cost of solar fencing will become economical through shared burden and economies of scale. Marketing of farm produces will be simpler and cheaper. Farmers can become better organised to collect, pack, deliver and market their produces.
Access to Markets:
It is not enough that the farmers produce – they need quick and economic means to access markets for their produces. Unfortunately, two of the biggest complaints of the farming community appear to be that:
1. They are too far away from the centres of commerce; and
2. They are priced out by cheap imports form India and third countries.
The above two problems are not insurmountable. When they say they are too far away from markets, it translates to transportation challenges. This problem would be solved if we can organise pick-up from centralised pick-up points in villages. This will take some doing, but it is a matter of building up organisational set up to pick up, sort, pack, store and transport to distribution centres from where bulk movement of produces to consumption centres can be organised.
This means we need to create a distribution network around the country. This can be done by private operators but with government encouragement.
Price is always an issue. Unfortunately, Bhutanese people want too much profit for too little value. This stems from the fact that they are poorly educated in the concept of costing. They do not know how to price their produce. As a result, they are priced out by imports. What they actually mean is that they are getting less profit! Thus, one of the most important exercises we need to conduct is to educate Bhutanese farmers to be reasonable in their expectations.
To encourage local production, selective restrictions on imports should be imposed. Bhutanese farmers cannot compete with imports because of the scale of production. However, consumers in Bhutan will always be willing to pay a higher price for locally produced food items because they are mostly organic and healthy and safe compared with those imported and sold at Sunday markets.
The government needs to help create an effective marketing and distribution network. However, there would be no point to producing if the produces cannot be marketed. Therefore, we need to create or invent markets for the produces.

Part X
In 2013, a staggering 53,307 students, or 31 percent of the total students in the country received free food from the WFP and the government under its School Feeding Program (SFP).
From 2014 through 2018, the WFP has earmarked a budget of US$ 8.6M (Nu 581M) that it will pump into this program.
In 2015 alone, the government is expected to spend Nu 269.980M to feed school children.
Where is all this money going? To India!
What has prevented Bhutan and Bhutanese farmers from supplying most of the food items purchased under the SFP? Nobody seems to have thought of this. We need to think and act upon.
The Centralised School Feeding Program of the education ministry and the WWF represents one single assured market for the Bhutanese farmers – it represents a Nu 500M worth of business every year. Why haven’t we tapped into this ready market? Why haven’t we looked at supplying to other institutionalised bodies such as RBP, RBA, RBG, colleges and VTI’s and monk bodies – to meet their food needs from healthy and safe produces available within the country?
Buying from within generates income for the rural people. Sizeable income from farm produces means that farmers will be discouraged from leaving their villages. This will curtail imports and prevent outflow of Rupees. Generation of business in rural areas will ensure that Goontongpas will start to return to their villages to take up farming.
Educational institutions can be the engine of growth in the rural areas. In fact, one of the main reasons why the UN Res Rep considered my ideas too radical (please refer my first article) and refused to publish was because of my suggestion that all government funded schools in the urban centres like Thimphu, Paro, Punakha, Wangdue and Phuentsholing, should be auctioned off to private operators.
My idea was and still is, that Bhutanese have now become economically efficient to be able to afford the cost of educating their own children. Therefore, they should not continue to seek kidu from the government. Thus those who wish to remain in the urban centres must be burdened with having to pay private schools to educate their children.
If they cannot or do not wish to, they have the option to work in the rural areas where, my idea is that the government should open up public/central schools with free boarding and tuition. In this respect, the recent announcement by the government to consolidate a large number of schools to form central schools is in tune with my idea. However, they fall short of the real potential such an idea offers, simply because the government is thinking small.
Starting huge central/public schools in the rural areas should serve a purpose that go beyond educating children. It should be an engine of growth; it must generate economic activities that can give employment; it must keep the farming community within the vicinity busy producing all year round. It should not only serve the farming community but these schools must open up opportunities for all sorts of businesses- poultry, piggery, dairy farming, laundry services, bakery, banking, Internet services, photocopy and documentation centres etc.
However, key to the success of these schools will be that they have to be big. Each of these schools – around 4 to 5 spread around the country – must have about 5,000 students each. Such a number opens up all sorts of possibilities. Imagine how many bakers and poultry farmers will be needed to serve breakfast to a school of 5,000 students.
These schools will also help create regional hubs such as Yenla towns. These will help absorb few of the migrants that otherwise end up in urban areas. Free education in the rural areas will help draw talent to the rural areas thereby making it possible for them to develop faster and better.
These schools will not only help end Goongtongs but will also help reverse the process of rural-urban migration.Contributed by Yeshey DorjiPhotographer & Bloggerwww.yesheydorji.blogspot.comyesheydorji@gmail.com

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-ix/feed/0A Malady Called Rural-Urban Migration: Part VIIIhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-viii-2/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-viii-2/#commentsSat, 14 Feb 2015 06:48:50 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=118300[... Read More]]]>The series of articles on the subject of rural-urban migration – numbering seven so far – have mainly focused on the principal causes that contributed to this malady. While a number of other causes have aggravated the problem to a lesser degree, clearly the principal causes, in order of severity, can be attributed to:

1. Predation by wildlife;
2. Poor access to markets;
3. Education system; and
4. Lack of support and leadership in tackling the problem.

Predation by wildlife:
This is the biggest problem and needs to be tackled – head on! First and foremost, we need to begin by accepting that all that the government and the agencies concerned did so far has been to bury the problem by touting a convenient contradiction: human-wildlife conflict. For years the problem of predation by wildlife has been allowed to fester even while hoards of farmers abandoned farming and village homes heading to urban centers, in defeat and frustration. Most people in Thimphu know of the problem – they even speak about it and yet, do nothing about it.
In my opinion, the misnomer “human-wildlife conflict” misled a lot of policy makers in Thimphu into believing that there is a conflict between humans and wild animals. There is none!
Amend the rules:
We can begin with few basic steps. The simplest and easiest solution would be to amend legislations that give so much primacy to wildlife. Farmers must be given the right to defend and counter all acts of aggression by wildlife. This must me made a fundamental right of the farmers – the freedom to do what it takes, to protect their crop and livelihood. If the government isn’t willing to empower the farmers with this right, it should be prepared to compensate them for the crop loss caused by wildlife.
Farmers in the Eastern dzongkhags say that monkeys and wild boars represent the biggest threats to their crops. It is understandable. Some of our unthinking acts in the past have upset the point of balance, causing the equilibrium to be destabilized – thereby allowing the population of these animals to proliferate to such an extent that peaceful coexistence between them and humans is on the verge of becoming an impossibility.
Two of the most effective deterrents against uncontrolled growth of these wild animals are: wild dogs and humans. Unfortunately, in Bhutan they have both been rendered ineffectual.
Our wild dog population was nearly exterminated – through wholesale poisoning, few decades back. Thus without its natural enemy to check its population growth, the wild boar’s population exploded to such an extent that it became a menace – not only in Eastern Bhutan but in Western and Central Bhutan as well. It continues to be so, to this day.
Unlike in other parts of the world, our forests do not contain much of the monkey’s natural enemies – wild cats and large birds. Thus, the next best defense against uncontrolled growth of the monkey’s population should have been: men. Sadly, our laws do not permit human intervention. Thus the population of monkeys has been growing unchecked, to the extent that they now threaten to take over human dwellings and habitat.
Solar/Electric Fencing:
From all accounts, solar fencing has proven to be a successful defense against wildlife predation – particularly against the nocturnal predators such as deer, wild boar and porcupine. However, it is expensive and beyond the reach of most villagers. On the other hand, it is just too expensive for the government to consider free distribution of the fencing materials.
Regardless, it should be possible for the farmers to finance the purchase of the fencing materials – on installment basis. Or, the government could provide the materials and collect reimbursement of cost in kind, upon harvest of the crops. We could also consider providing subsidy for the purchase of these fencing materials. The modalities of how this is to be implemented can be worked out in consultation with the local governments and village gups.
Given our landscape, solar/electric fencing cannot be the only solution. We need to redesign our traditional fencing methods to make them more effective towards invasion by wild animals.

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-viii-2/feed/0A malady called rural-urban migration Part VIIIhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-viii/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-viii/#commentsFri, 13 Feb 2015 06:33:45 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=118264[... Read More]]]>I have been often cautioned to refrain from being “emotional” when writing about important issues. People say that one fails to be “objective” when one is emotional. But the case of Goongtongs is a very, very emotional issue. I cannot believe that unless one is extremely callous, one cannot help but be emotional. The suffering is just too great, and the apathy of the elected leaders and the bureaucrats even greater.

Something fundamental has to have gone wrong with the Bhutanese society if a section of us are reduced to employing dummies imported from China, to defend ourselves and our properties from the pillaging wild animals. But that is what is happening – some farmers in the East have now resorted to buying and using stuffed tigers to scare away marauding wildlife. Unfortunately, this ploy is not foolproof – it has a number of drawbacks.

One, they are not cheap so not every farmer can afford them. Two, they have limited success – and that too only with macaques and langurs. Three, they are ineffective during nights and they do not work against other predators such as porcupines, deer and wild boars. And four, over time, even the macaques and langurs realize that the stuffed tigers are dummies – so they carry them away and shred them to smithereens.

The proliferation of wildlife in the rural areas have been so prodigious that villagers say that the wild boars now invade villages and roam freely even during day – something that never happened in the past. Triggered by increase in their numbers, the macaques have become so audacious and bold that they now enter village homes and walk away with bundles of maize. Any resistance is dangerous since it results in attacks by the macaques.

It should have been obvious by now that our laws and Acts are skewed and lopsided. No law can be called useful or progressive if it takes away a human being’s and, for that matter, animal’s fundamental right to self-defense and preservation.

We should all understand that the Goontong tragedy has the potential to spiral out of control. We should not only work towards preventing further Goontongs in the villages, we should endeavor to reverse the trend – draw away migrants from the urban centers to restock the villages with Goontongpas.

Goontongs cause extreme behavioral change – it turns producers into consumers. This reversal of role has serious implications – both on the person as well as on the country as a whole.

Kuensel reported that in 2011, Bhutan imported food items from India worth 4 billion Rupees (US$77 million) – that too at a time when we were faced with severe Rupee shortage. Of that, 629.30 million Rupees (US$12 million) represented import of meat items. It is pathetic that we cannot even produce meat for our own consumption. The excuse: we are Buddhists and cannot kill! How long are we going to hide behind pseudo-religious obstinacy?

Something is terribly amiss if a supposedly agrarian society needs to import so much food from outside. Something has gone terribly wrong somewhere – if we are unable to produce enough to feed a measly 700,000 people. And yet, what can be expected when an entire town of Deothang cannot produce one kg of Kharang to sell me?

Contributed by Yeshey Dorji

Photographer & Blogger

yesheydorji.blogspot.com

yesheydorji@gmail.com

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-viii/feed/0A malady called rural-urban migration Part IVhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-iv/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-iv/#commentsSat, 31 Jan 2015 07:54:06 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=117724[... Read More]]]>Undoubtedly, the proliferation of the malaise called “Goongtong” in the Eastern dzongkhags has been mainly caused by:

Wildlife predation and,

Youth abandoning village homes in search of better livelihood.

However, there appears to be a number of other players that aggravate the problem further. They can be identified as:

Zhabto Lemi/Goongdung Woola

Poor access to markets

Puritanical/Dogmatic religious beliefs

Baby sitting

Divergent census Vs real population figures

Zhabto lemi/goongdung woola:

You may call it Goongdung Woola or you may choose to call it by its euphemistic equivalent: Zhabto Lemi – it means the same thing: forced involuntary labor contribution.

Villagers – at least those who are still domiciled in the villages – are required to contribute labor to repair dzongs, community lhakhangs, irrigation channels, farm roads and to haul construction materials for community projects. There are other sporadic unplanned activities that happen in the villages for which labour needs to be mobilized from within the community – free of cost.

Although it can be argued that all this is for their own benefit, the fact is that it places incredible amounts of physical and financial burden and hardship on the villagers who are already stretched to the limit of endurance by having to toil in the field all day long and stay awake all night – to guard the fields from predation by wildlife. It does not help that the calculation of labour contribution by each household is based on Goongdung – registered head count under each Goog.

The anomaly here is that the Googdung may be 20 heads – but the household may comprise of only about 3-4 remaining registrants. Rest may have migrated in search of easier livelihood. Thus, those who remain in the villages have to take on the additional burden on behalf of the rest of the family who are no longer residents of the villages.

The burden of ZhabtoLemi/Goongdung Woola has been so great that some Eastern males have come up with an ingenious way of avoiding it – they have declared themselves as Gomchens. Gomchens are considered religious entities, thus not subject to Zhabto Lemi/Goongdung Woola. The net result is that these Gomchens abandon their families and villages and roam the streets of the urban centers – seeking alms.

I am told that a village in Lauri gewog in Samdrup Jongkhar is now largely populated by females because most of their men have declared themselves Gomchens and moved out. This means that the increase in marriage break-up in the rural areas is also on the rise.

Poor access to market:

The lack of incentive to increase food and other production in the rural areas is attributed to lack of access to markets for their produce/products. The inability to generate attractive income from what they produce is the sole reason why farming is losing appeal among the rural population.

Cheap import substitution is another cause for falling production of local produce. For example, as incredible as it may sound, when I was in Deothang last November, I could not buy a kg. of the local specialty - Kharang: it is no exaggeration – the whole of Deothang town could not sell me a kg. of Kharang!

The most effective way to encourage retention of human capital in the villages is to afford them the ability to generate income from what they are best at: farm production. Unfortunately, the villagers lament that they have no access to markets and, even if they do, the prices they obtain are incommensurate to the amount of time and energy they have to invest behind their production.

They point out that the main reason why they are priced out of the market is because they have to compete with cheap imports from India.

Quite evidently, the farmers lacked leadership and direction. Thus, even after 60 years of planned development, our farmers are still stuck with their traditional kitchen farming mentality.

Contributed by

Yeshey Dorji

Photographer & Blogger

yesheydorji.blogspot.com

yesheydorji@gmail.com

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-iv/feed/0A malady called rural-urban migration Part IIIhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-iii/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-iii/#commentsWed, 28 Jan 2015 06:04:43 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=117548[... Read More]]]>While the Forest and Nature Conservation Rules and Acts may be the cause célèbre that encourage rampant predation by animals on human crops and livestock, the principal cause for Goontongs, there appears to be other causes that contribute to declining rural population and disenchantment with life in the villages.

The inordinate implementation of the commitment made at the 1990 Jomtien World Conference on Education for All, seems to have played a significant role in the annual migration of rural population to urban centers – particularly those of the rural youth. During the course of my interviews in the rural areas, an old man in Chaskhar, Mongar told me that in his view, education has now become a paradox. In his opinion – it is good to be educated but he also attributes incomplete education and cases of dropouts from schools, to creating lots of unproductive humans, drug addicts, gang fights and juvenile delinquency, including some other social maladies.

I totally agree with him! I have long held the view that deficient education creates what I call “social misfits” – an emerging category of youths who can neither be identified with the farming community nor the educated lot. Few years of their stint in the classrooms of government community schools have deprived them of their inclination for farming while their inability to continue beyond Class VI has rendered them unsuitable for seeking white-collared jobs. Thus, hoards of these unfortunate “social misfits” leave their village homes to seek livelihoods in the urban centers. Some end up as drivers, handy boys, Drayang performers, gang members, thieves, drug addicts, and listless loafers without a cause or purpose in life. Some fall foul of the law and end up in jails. But none of them harbor any hopes or wish to go back to their villages to take up farm work.

The Royal Government’s well-intentioned establishment of Community Schools in practically all the far-flung villages of the country was envisioned to provide education to the rural youth consequent upon its pledge at the 2000 Dakar World Education Forum to achieve “Education for All” by 2015. As policies go, it was a laudable initiative deserving of all the praise and accolade – except that it failed to deliver the intended results. At the end, all that it achieved was to deprive the country of a whole lot of energetic youth from contributing to nation building through farm work or, contribute to growth in human capital through acquiring of meaningful education. Our experiment with Community Schools aptly validates the adage that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

The arrival of Community Schools in the villages saw the transfer of potential farmhands into school classrooms. Unfortunately, the implementation of the Community Schools initiative was done with poor foresight and lacked follow through action. For instance, the Community Schools do not provide teaching beyond Class VI. And yet, it is apparent that the educationists and the policy makers did not think about what would happen to the children, beyond class VI – particularly to the children of the majority of parents who did not have the wherewithal to send their children for higher studies outside of their villages.

The weeding out process implemented by the education ministry through the implementation of “Common Examinations” in Class VI, VIII and Class X & XII is another anomaly that contributed to the burgeoning pool of unemployable misfits. While the government systematically weeded out the academic non-performers at varying stages of their development, it did not have adequate plans in place to turn them into productive citizens. A number of vocational institutes set up by the government to offer life-skills did not find ready acceptance among the youth. Thus a hoard of school dropouts and disqualified students were churned out from the school system – year after year, most of who ended up as juvenile delinquents, substance abusers, thieves and vandals. It is small wonder that today the Bhutanese society is bewildered by strange and unthinkable incidences of crime that defy logic.

In my view the government has, even if inadvertently, been responsible in creating the kind of situation we are faced with today. The well-conceived but poorly implemented “Education for All” initiative has been partly responsible for the creation of Goontongs. While the recently introduced initiative of creating Central Schools by consolidating a number of schools may help curb the problem of poor quality education and incidence of school dropouts, it falls short of the real potential such an initiative offers. I believe that the education sector can contribute lot more towards restocking the villages with people and reinvigorating economic activities in the rural areas.

Nearly a decade earlier, my paper that the UNDP Res Rep declined to publish, points to the possibility that one of the surest ways to reverse the process of rural-urban migration may be: schools and colleges..

Contributed by

Yeshey Dorji

Photographer & Blogger

yesheydorji.blogspot.com

yesheydorji@gmail.com

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-iii/feed/0A Malady Called Rural-Urban Migration Part IIhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-ii/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration-part-ii/#commentsSat, 24 Jan 2015 07:28:02 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=117381[... Read More]]]>In recent times, the media – particularly Kuensel, has been reporting on a brand new social malady called Goongtong – the apathetic case of abandoned households in the rural areas of Eastern dzongkhags. Other than arousing a mild sense of curiosity generated by the term itself, the tragedy that is Goontong does seem to have created much flutter among the authorities. If it did, there is no sign of it.

Goongtong is a term derived from the combination of two independent words: “Goong” meaning household, and “Tong” meaning empty: empty household. It is a form of human adaptation necessitated by changing conditions within the sphere of their traditional dwellings.

Unfortunately, it is a change that reflects an act of desperation, the forfeiture of the rights of the humans – to live peacefully and in comfort within the confines of their own habitat. The mass movement of human population from the villages to the urban centers and roadside shanties is the result of a society that is increasingly becoming unthinking and insensitive. It demonstrates the abject failure and utter indifference of the policy makers to be responsive to the changing realities in the remote villages. Clearly, this is proof that policy makers in Thimphu are far removed from the realities of the lot in whose name and cause they profess to make the rules and regulations.

There are a number of other reasons but at the core of it, the problem of Goongtongs is caused mainly by, what the “educated” lot have grandiosely termed, “human-wildlife conflict”. Incredibly, the coinage “human-wildlife conflict” is a complete misnomer and a myth that has helped perpetuate the Goongtong malady. The fact that such a colossal misconception finds ready acceptance among the so-called “educated” lot is simply astounding. Is it possible that the country may be accruing some financial benefits from allowing this fallacy to be perpetuated, at the cost of the poor villagers? If not, how is it possible that the bureaucrats and the lawmakers and the environmentalists are doing nothing to contain this potentially dangerous situation to snowball into a disaster?

For anyone with a heart and a mind, it should be clearly evident that the case is not that of human-wildlife conflict. It does not exist. In fact it is a complete walkover – by the wild animals. They come, they plunder, they vandalise and they walk away – scot-free! If the villagers respond, they are fined and penalised. So where is the conflict? A conflict situation arises when two parties have the freedom and the right to react to other’s acts of aggression. The situation in the villages is that the humans are the passive watchers while the wild animals have a field day. Clanging empty tin cans and nightlong vigils and ingenious means of warding off the wildlife has not helped – leaving the villagers only one way out: to accept defeat and abandon farming as a means of livelihood.

As a result of the unchecked increase in the population of wildlife, an imbalance has been created – primarily because our laws give complete protection to the wildlife.

A good conservation policy aims at maintaining a balance, an equilibrium – because we know that when the balance is tipped in favour of one or the other, chaos follows. That is why there is a term known as “culling”. It cannot be that the humans have begun to encroach into the habitats of the wildlife – not in Bhutan. Records do not suggest such a scenario. In fact the reverse is true – the wildlife is now on the verge of taking over human habitat. They have begun to prey on the crops of the humans – because they represent easy pickings.

The wildlife are picking up a dangerous habit – that of feeding off the crops of the humans. Over time, there is a real danger that they may lose their natural instinct to hunt for food. Instead they may become habitual foragers in the fields of the humans – thereby proliferating the incidences of Goongtongs – mostly in the Eastern part of the country.

The government and the concerned agencies need to revisit its laws and Acts that have so far given complete and total protection to the animals – thereby upsetting the rules of co-habitation between humans and animals. Certain rules and laws may have been necessary during the time they were promulgated. However, we are now dealing with a situation that is no longer the same. All rules must undergo change – to suite a given situation. They must be appropriate.

If annual migrations of rural population out of their homes and villages are to be halted, one of the things we must do is to review and amend the laws that give animals primacy over humans. Let us give the poor villagers a fighting chance. If we don’t, the consequences can be too costly for the country.

After an impressive run for 14 years in the United Kingdom (UK), Eden Project, the famous environmental education attraction from the UK, is making a foray into Bhutan, landing as Edenlab.

Edenlab, the international creative partner of Eden Project UK – one of the UK’s most popular tourist destinations – will stage interactive, immersive artistic events and installations to promote environmental sustainability and wellbeing during the first-ever Bhutan International Festival scheduled in Thimphu from February 14-23 this year.

Edenlab’s creative producer, John Hendicott, describes the arrival of Edenlab in Bhutan as ‘building a relationship and promoting collaboration and cultural exchange’. “It’s not about participating in an event and disappearing after that. It’s about integration and learning from each other. It’s about sharing and collaborating. It’s about cultural exchange and building a legacy together. That’s what music and arts are all about,” he said.

Edenlab, he said, also envisages Bhutan as a perfect place, because of the shared common goals. “We share a lot of the same ideas about our relationship to nature and sustainability, especially when we think about Bhutan being carbon negative and Bhutan’s commitment to maintain 60 percent of its total land area under forest cover. It’s also about art as an expression and reflection of current values, social and environmental. It’s these things we think are important as well,” he added. “From our time here so far, we’ve also met a lot of creative young people, who seemed very keen to collaborate, and we look forward to doing exactly that during Edenlab’s 10-day visit to Bhutan.”

As Edenlab’s main mission is to inspire behavioural change, Mr Hendicott said, “It’s not just about people coming and seeing our events, but it’s about participation, so that they take something away; a new perspective, greater insight or a new way of relating to the natural world. It should inspire them to reflect on issues that will be critical to our futures. Looking after the planet means looking after each other.”

At an earmarked space during the 10-day Bhutan International Festival, Edenlab will hold engaging public events, such as informative art installations, exploring people’s connection with nature. Edenlab artist, known as Mileece, will wire up a diverse selection of plants from all over Bhutan to measure their electro-conductivity. Visitors are then invited to interact with the plants by touching or breathing on them, and the interaction sets off a series of sounds and light responses, demonstrating the sentience of plants, and how our connection with the plants stimulates and therefore changes their conductivity.

“It’s basically the investigation of our relationship with plants. Plants are alive the same way as we are,” explains Mr Hendicott

“The results are interactive graphics and soundscapes, all arising in direct response to the motion of dancers’ bodies. People can see how they interact with the molecules in the air,” Mr Hendicott said, describing it as a biology lesson brought alive through arts.

Besides participating in the festival, Mr Hendicott said they are also keen to explore other potential areas for long-term relationships in Bhutan.

Popular musicians representing Edenlab, such as Nick Mulvey, Dizraeli, and Bellatrix, are also expected to host live music events and performances during the festival.

Edenlab will also build two large geodesic domes in the Centenary Park in Thimphu to host Mileece and dance-room Spectroscopy. Both artists will be holding workshops and talks throughout the festival for anyone who is interested in participating. The Founder of Eden Project, Sir Tim Smit, is also scheduled to deliver a talk at the TEDx Thimphu during the festival.

Contributed by

Namkhai Norbu

Former editor of Bhutan Times

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/the-edenlab-has-landed-or-soon-will-in-bhutan/feed/0A malady called rural-urban migrationhttp://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/a-malady-called-rural-urban-migration/#commentsThu, 22 Jan 2015 06:12:41 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=117296[... Read More]]]>“If something is not done in the next 5-10 years, I can foretell that the dzongdas of the eastern dzongkhags will have to be referred to as dzongda of Mongar wildlife, or dzongda of Trashigang wildlife etc., because there will be no humans left in the villages – except wild animals. It is a policy failure that needs immediate correction.”

-Yonten Tharchen

Secretary General, Bhutan Taekwondo Federation

Yonten Tharchen went home to Nganglam after 19 years and returned to Thimphu completely bewildered and devastated at how whole villages are being abandoned, ancestral homes left to decay and fertile fields left fallow.

He laments that, even today, the oranges and guavas still fall to the ground (production being in excess of consumption and with no access to markets) – as they used to during his young days – except that those days he remembers that the cows, horses and pigs fed on them.

Today there are no able bodied people in the villages to work the fields and to tend to the domestic animals – so the fallen fruits turn into manure that help proliferate the growth of weeds and tall grasses that eventually turn once fertile fields and orchards into wasteland and wilderness.

Few people, who still remain in the villages, are those who are old and infirm – those unfit to embark on the migratory journeys that the young and the strong have opted for.

Clearly the senior citizens today form the bulk of the village population in most of the eastern dzongkhags. Strangely, it does not seem like the fast dwindling rural population is a cause for alarm. In fact, about eight to nine years back, as a member of the SE network of the UNDP, one UN consultant sought my views on how Bhutan may “be prepared for rural-urban migration”. I wrote back saying that such an approach was defeatist at best, and that the more pertinent question to ask should have been: “How Bhutan may be better prepared to mitigate rural-urban migration”. Regardless, I offered my views – including some suggested solutions. The then res rep of the UNDP found my views too “radical” and offered to improve the content of my paper by carrying out some edits. I refused and my work never got published.

Since then, almost a decade later, the problem has aggravated to a point of no return, and yet we are nowhere being prepared for the influx of rural migrants to our urban centres, bringing with it complex and unexpected problems. But the issue is not of whether the urban centres are prepared or ill prepared to accommodate the increased incidence of rural-urban migration. The real issue is: what is causing the exodus of rural population? Why are the villagers abandoning the comfort of their ancestral homes and productive fields, and preferring to embrace the uncertainties of life in the urban centers?

Unchecked rural-urban migration has the potential to cause complex problems that we cannot even begin to fathom. Some of our emerging problems of falling food production, quantum jump in food imports, juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, unemployment and deteriorating urban crimes, have direct relation to increase in rural population abandoning their fields and ancestral homes.

Every once in a while, His Majesty the King grants thousands of acres of land as Kidu to the farming communities in the villages, and yet, the incidence of gungtongs is on the increase – unabated. So, what is causing this? Even while land holding and access to arable land has increased, why does this not translate into increased food production? Why do the villagers and the rural youth move out of the comfort of their village homes and, instead, prefer the hardship of crushing stones by the roadside, or suffer the indignity of a life as a drayang performer, or be employed as a truck driver or a handy boy?

In an effort to understand the issues, the Bhutan Center for Media and Democracy (BCMD) awarded me a modest grant to help me visit rural areas to understand and identify the causes for this phenomenon. What follows (to be presented in a series of articles) are my personal views and my understanding of what I believe are the real problems that contribute to rural-urban migration.

Contributed by Yeshey Dorji

Photographer & Blogger

www.yesheydorji.blogspot.com

yesheydorji@gmail.com

Beyond covering the cost of field visits for research and interviews, BCMD has no role or influence over the findings that are rendered above.

The Bhutan Council for School Examination and Assessment, BCSEA board in its wisdom decided to award English I marks for English II, as the two papers are related.

I believe that this decision is unfair and unscientific for reasons I shall present here. But first, allow me to comment on the information given by the board on this matter. The board mentions that it will take anywhere from about Nu 4-11M to redo the examination. This is a huge range; it’s like saying our population is anywhere between 400, 000 to 1,100,000 (it’s 756,295). This estimate limits us from judging this situation accurately because when we see amount like Nu 11M, we tend to think about how much good we can do to our people out of that money and we may even empathize with their decision.

Moreover, neither an estimate of the number of students who have had access to the leaked questions and hence the extent of leakage has been provided. I believe that attentive citizens can better make judgments if important information as these were provided.

Why is BCSEA’s decision unfair and unscientific?

The board justifies their decision saying that the two papers, English II, and I are closely related and that they have a correlation of 0.7736. In my knowledge, the above correlation isn’t sufficient to award English I marks for English II. In the case of the above two-variable regression, the R-squared, which is the square of the correlation coefficient, is about 0.60. This basically means that 60 percent of the variation is accounted for by the model which implies that 60 percent of a student’s English II marks can be explained by English I marks. This leaves us with 40 percent variability unaccounted for, which in other words means leaving it to random, chance events. From a statistical point of view, 40 percent variability is unacceptable and hence, the board’s decision is scientifically unsound.

Further, when the board says to award English I marks to English II, it eventually comes down to entirely dropping English II marks. This is because, in the class 12 board examination results, only an aggregate English marks is shown and since the marks of English I and II were the same, any combination would yield just one aggregate, that is, English I marks.

Here is the Math:

Let the score in English I be E1, then, the score in English II will be E2 = E1 (by their decision of awarding English I marks for English II).

To obtain an aggregate English marks, let’s give a weight of w for English I and consequently, (1 − w) for English II.

This leads to the aggregate English marks, E being:

E = E1 * w + E2 * (1 − w) = E1w + E1 − E1w
= E1

So, regardless of whether a simple average or a complex weighted average is used, the aggregate English marks will be the marks obtained in English I. This, in effect, is equivalent to simply dropping English II marks out of the BHSEC results, which is crucial in determining scholarship merit ranking.

Now, dropping the English II marks is definitely unfair as a whole. Firstly, it will make this year’s results different in structure from the past years. Secondly, this will be unfair. There will be students who are better at English II than English I. These students will be heavily penalized by this decision of BCSEA. On the other hand, there will be students who are better at English I than English II and these students will enjoy undeserved benefit from this decision. Different students could have different performances in these two English papers because one tests more of the technical aspects such as grammar, language, and composition whereas the other (English II), tests literature out of which 50 percent is seen texts for which some students prepare really hard. And all their hard work goes down the drain because few students cheated and the board took a hard decision, which was unfortunately unfair.

Therefore, the board’s present decision is unscientific and unfair and simply unacceptable.

Here are some alternatives we can explore:

Grade English Paper II and Decide

This solution is the courtesy of Duptho Kinga and Chimi Wangchuk. First, the paper should be graded despite the leak. Then, we can test if the leak did have a statistically significant impact. If there isn’t, we can rely on the statistical science to use this exam as usual for the BHSEC result. The culprits’ attempt did not result in any significant impact and thus, they can be punished separately without compromising justice and hassling the innocent lot besides avoiding further spending. This is akin to removing the bad apples and eating the rest.

In the event that the paper’s leak caused significant impact so as to hinder fairness and justice, we can choose from the next two solutions.

Use marks obtained in Mid-term and Trial Exams

I have thought about this alternative and also saw other people mentioning it. However, this doesn’t seem appropriate, as there is huge chance for moral lapses and favoritism. Furthermore, this will be unfair as the quality of exams may not be uniform throughout, which is necessary for a board exam.

Therefore, if the leak of questions caused significant impact causing unfairness, the only solution to make it right will be to redo the exam.

Re-examination

The only reason to oppose this solution is the cost involved and the burden to students, teachers, and parents. Otherwise, it is the most-fair solution. But, in the event that the leak made the examination unfair and the result unreliable, the only right thing will be to redo the examination, despite the cost and burden. To put things into perspective, the net cost of re-examination comes to Nu1, 000 a student, even using the upper limit of their estimate. Comparing this to the 40 percent randomness and complete omission of the English II scores, it is a worth- while expense for the 11,000 students.

We don’t let criminals walk away with their wrong doings just because it’s too expensive to render justice. Similarly here, we cannot just take an easy decision because it cost a lot and require us to work harder. We cannot compromise the fairness and justice of our system and expose meritocracy to randomness.

Conclusion: The Way Forward

After analyzing the above options, I think it is necessary to grade the examination for English paper II and determine the impact of the leak. If there is no evidence that the leak caused significant impact so as to compromise the validity of the exam score, we could use them as usual and fix accountability on the culprits as necessary. Otherwise, we must redo the examination if we are to maintain fairness and quality in our examination system.

Looking at the Brighter Side

Despite this unfortunate event, I would like to commend our students, teachers, and the BCSEA, perhaps excluding the culprits, for their hard work and plead the BCSEA to reconsider their decision. I think we should take this as an opportunity to improve and make full accommodations so as to prevent any sort of lapses such as this in the future.

Contributed by Tandin Dorji

Tandin Dorji is an undergraduate studying Actuarial Science in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

]]>http://www.kuenselonline.com/the-case-of-leaked-english-paper-ii-and-the-price-for-justice/feed/0Schools can give a healthy start in lifehttp://www.kuenselonline.com/schools-can-give-a-healthy-start-in-life/
http://www.kuenselonline.com/schools-can-give-a-healthy-start-in-life/#commentsSat, 10 Jan 2015 06:15:32 +0000kuensel1http://www.kuenselonline.com/?p=116768[... Read More]]]>Araham Lincoln once said that, “the philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next.” Indeed what school children think today, the nation thinks tomorrow.

Schools not only offer wonderful opportunities for learning and thriving, they are also uniquely positioned to give children and adolescents a healthy start in life to enable them to fulfill their potential and succeed. This is of critical importance today because of increasing and early onset of health problems related to obesity, unhealthy eating, sedentary lifestyle, the use of tobacco and alcohol and mental stress.

Why do schools need to actively promote healthy living? The short answer: health and education are inextricably linked. Healthy children are more active. They are better learners. They are less likely to be absent or have behavioural issues. All these typically lead to better scores and better academic performance overall. Children with healthy habits are also more likely to grow into healthy and productive adults, and less at risk of developing chronic noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, stroke, chronic lung disease and cancer during the life course. Parents play a critical role in inculcating good habits. But children spend a major chunk of their day at school and teachers and school managements need to step up to the plate.

Schools, wherever they are, can act in tangible ways – school cafeterias, for example, should offer more fruits and vegetables and less fried, sugar-rich, salty food and sugary drinks. Schools should also mandate a certain amount of physical activity for every student. Additionally, schools must ensure access to safe drinking water and clean toilets for boys and girls. Children need to be encouraged to brush their teeth at least twice a day with flouridated toothpaste, to prevent dental caries. Not all schools have big playgrounds and not all offer meals but creative improvisations can be managed if wellness committees are instituted in schools with parents as members.

Why are all these things so important? Children who grow up on an unhealthy diet – too little of fresh fruits and vegetables, too much of processed food, salt, sugar, saturated fats and trans-fats (bad fats)-, are at risk of severe ailments. For example, too much salt in the food can lead to raised blood pressure and a number of conditions, such as heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis and stomach cancer at a later stage. Too much sugar and sugar-sweetened beverages such as soft drinks, can lead to tooth decay and obesity.

School authorities therefore must promote healthy meals. In addition, every child needs to spend sufficient time in the day doing some form of physical activity. Often, parents and schools emphasise too much on academic scores at the expense of physical activity. Combined with unhealthy eating, lack of sufficient physical activity is leading to rising childhood obesity around the world. WHO recommends that healthy children and adolescents between 5 and 17 years should spend at least 60 minutes in moderate- to vigorous-intensity physical activity daily. It can be swimming, running, cycling, or any form of sports.

This is not all. School children today are severely impacted by peer pressure and advertisements. The two areas where schools need to intervene urgently are tobacco and harmful use of alcohol. There is evidence that the use of tobacco (smoked and chewed and alcohol consumption is increasing among adolescents and youth). Tobacco use is the single most important risk factor for NCDs. Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals and chemical compounds, many of which are toxic. School authorities and parents need to advocate enforcing a ban on the sale of tobacco products to children and adolescents. Teachers can also make help parents and other adults understand that it is not only smokers who are at risk. Those exposed to second hand smoke are also at risk. Alcohol too has an addictive potential. Research shows that earlier initiation into alcohol consumption increases the chances of alcohol dependency in later life. Teachers in partnership with parents can make children aware that alcohol consumption at this stage can affect and even impair brain development and have other consequences such as loss of control and risky behaviour, leading to injuries, accidents and even violence.

The World Health Organization is working with partners to promote health in schools and has come out with Laying the Foundation for Healthy Living – A Guidebook for Teachers and Schools, which lists some of the simple things that schools can do. These are recommendations, which can be adapted by individual schools to suit their specific contexts.

The key issue is action. Habits are formed early in life. Once they are established, they are difficult to change. Many of the chronic noncommunicable diseases that manifest in adults have their roots in unhealthy habits formed during childhood and adolescence – the school years. Mahatma Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see…” Schools can be catalysts for change.”